A selective call device (130) has a receiver (204) for receiving a selective call signal including an address (312) and a topic sub-address (504) indicative of a subscribed information, a processor (212, 214) for correlating the address (312) in the selective call signal to determine when the selective call signal is directed thereto, a decoder (212), in response to the processor (212, 214) determining that the selective call signal is directed thereto, for decoding the topic sub-address (504) to determine when the selective call signal includes the subscribed information, and a battery saver, coupled to the receiver (204), for initiating battery saving when the address (312) does not correlate with a predetermined address of the selective call device (130) and for initiating battery saving when the topic sub-address (504) is absent from the selective call signal.